How much are you paying for your child's summer childcare?
Councils across the country are facing shortages of holiday childcare spaces, especially for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), according to research by the Coram Family and Childcare charity.
The shortage has contributed to the rising costs, with holiday childcare costing almost £700 more over six weeks than term-time after-school clubs.
The research, based on surveys of local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales between April and June, suggests the average cost of a holiday childcare club has risen by 4% in a year to £179 per week.
Wales has the highest weekly price at £210, followed by England at £178 and Scotland at £168.
There is significant variation in holiday club prices across England, ranging from £196 per week in the South East to £162 per week in the North West.
The report also found that the average cost of a childminder during the holidays is £234 per week in the UK.
Inner London has the highest childminder price at £306 per week, compared to the South West where the childminder cost is £191 per week.
In England, only 9% of local authorities said they had enough holiday childcare for at least three quarters of children with Send in their area.
This figure falls to 0% for three regions in England – the East Midlands, the East of England and Inner London, the report said.
The charity is calling on the government to provide more funding, training and support to holiday childcare providers to meet the needs of Send children.
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme - which funds local authorities to provide holiday childcare, activities and food for children eligible for free school meals - should also be maintained after March 2026 to ensure disadvantaged children have childcare during school holidays, it added.
The expansion of funded childcare, which was introduced by the Conservative government, began being rolled out in England in April last year for working parents of two-year-olds.
Working parents of children older than nine months are now able to access 15 hours of funded childcare a week during term time, before the full rollout of 30 hours a week to all eligible families in September.
The report said: 'It is encouraging to see increasing recognition that childcare is essential for facilitating parental workplace participation, with the continued expansion of funded childcare in early years, support to develop wraparound childcare before and after school, and the introduction of free breakfast clubs.
'There is no longer an assumption that parents and employers are able to fit their work around the school day, or an expectation that they will do so.
'However, outside of school term time, the situation is very different.
'Holiday childcare remains the unspoken outlier of childcare policy and the gap that parents must bridge every school holiday.'
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